The victim alleged that she was not allowed to enter inside Phoenix Market City Mall on Vimannagar area for being a 'transgender'.
A 29-year-old transgender was allegedly subjected to discrimination outside mall in Pune on Thursday evening. The victim alleged that she was not allowed to enter inside Phoenix Market City Mall on Vimannagar area for being a 'transgender'.
The incident came to light after the victim posted a video of her altercation with the security guards of the mall on social media.
Sonali Dalvi, a transgender social activist, said she was made to wait outside the mall by security guards for more than half an hour. Speaking to DNA, Sonali said, "I had gone to the mall to purchase a dress for me. However, as I approached the woman security guard who was deployed to frisk the customers, she refused to frisk me and also did not allow me to go inside the mall."
"When I started asking her the reason, she called another woman security guard but even that woman could not give me any reason for not allowing me to get into the mall. Later, they called some senior security personnel who told me that they have the policy of not allowing transgender inside the mall. When I asked them to show the written policy, they refused," Sonali alleged.
However, while Sonali was arguing with the security personnel to let her entry inside mall, the other customers came to support her and fought with the mall management to allow her entry.
"After waiting for more than half an hour, I was finally allowed to get inside the mall. All that while, I was behaving decently with them," she said.
"It is really disheartening to see that in 21st century also, transgenders have to face such kind of discrimination. There is a perception that the discrimination happens only in lower strata of the society. However, this incident shows that the employees of malls have also not been sensitised about this important issue," she said.
Bindumadhav Khire, LGBT activist also supported Sonali and said, "It is really unfortunate that even in cities like Pune and in places like malls, people from transgender community have to face the discrimination. I know some incidents where they have faced discrimination in IT sector also."
Meanwhile, the Phoenix Market City mall management issued a statement saying that Sonali was stopped for less than ''five minutes'' at the gate for ''security verification'' and denied any discrimination claims made by the victim.
"This incident took place last evening (Thursday) and we would like to clarify that the concerned person was allowed to enter the mall premises within no time," the statement read.
"We would like to state that on the basis of the detailed report from the security agency the person in question was asked for verification by the security guards and directed to the desired destination in less than five minutes. We regret any inconvenience caused to the customer but security precautions are part of the process."
"We would also like to clearly state that we neither had nor have any intentions of hurting sentiments or discriminating anyone basis their caste or gender. In fact we strongly believe in inclusive society," the statement reads.
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 "Transgender discrimination")
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